The LPD in cooperation with scientist at the National School of Medicine of Mali have developed a Malaria Research and Training Center in Bamako. The goals of the MRTC are several. First is to nurture a center of research excellence in Africa where the work is planned, directed and executed primarily by African scientists. In cooperation with scientists from more developed countries, research is aimed at producing strategies for the control of malaria in Africa using the most modern and appropriate technologies. To facilitate these studies, laboratories have been renovated and equipped. A major training program has been initiated for Malian staff members to provide expertise in all areas of biology, tropical medicine and epidemiology with emphasis on molecular biology and immunology. A second goal is to provide a facility in a malaria endemic area where the results of laboratory studies at the NIH and in other laboratories can be readily tested and applied to studies of malaria in the field. Most important will be the relationship between the MRTC and the newly formed Malaria Vaccine Development Unit of the LPD. The Center in Mali is being expanded to serve as the major site for testing malaria vaccine candidates being developed at the NIH.